Small plane makes emergency landing on Rickenbacker Causeway near Miami Seaquarium

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. – A small plane made an emergency landing on the Rickenbacker Causeway in Key Biscayne Saturday evening, authorities said.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, a single-engine Beechcraft A23A made the emergency landing around 5:20 p.m.

Authorities said four people were on board when the plane landed.

“It just sounded like a big bang,” said witness Lileth Gonzalez. “I got up to get out of the water and I saw that the plane was landing on the street.”

According to the FAA, the registered owner of the plane is Daniel Mosquera, of Miami.

The Rickenbacker Causeway entrance was blocked off due to the crash investigation, the City of Miami Police Department said in a tweet. It has since reopened.

Local 10 News cameras were at the scene where a heavy police presence was in the area.

Witnesses said dozens of people on the beach started running to the plane after watching it land.

“It didn’t really crash -- it bounced onto the highway and it kind of just crashed into the car in front of it,” said Gonzalez.

Police have not said whether anyone was injured after the plane landed.

The FAA said it will conduct a full investigation to determine what caused the plane to come down prematurely.


About the Authors:

Ryan Mackey is a Digital Journalist at WPLG. He was born in Long Island, New York, and has lived in Sunrise, Florida since 1994.

Cody Weddle joined Local 10 News as a full-time reporter in South Florida in August of 2022. Before that, Cody worked regularly with Local 10 since January of 2017 as a foreign correspondent in Venezuela and Colombia.